Tropical Fish Forums

[Illusia]

Hi all, My water has been cloudy for at least 2 and a half weeks now and I thought it was a bacterial bloom but it still hasn't cleared. I do at least a 40% water change every week as well as weekly vacuming of the substrate.

I have a 55 gallon tank with a wet/dry filter at 900L/h.

What is wrong with my water? Do I need a better filter? In my filter I have carbon, ceramic, foam and bio balls. Is there anything else I can add that would help clear it up?

My fish list is on my profile.

All help will be very much appreciated .
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200L Community

[Serkan]

I

[fishlover888]

How long the tank has bee up and running? Did yur added new fish lately?

I can't see the fish list in your tank. IMO, 900l/h is bit weak. It turns 4 times of your tank water in an hour. Most people aim at 3 to 15 times, leaning to the higher end with bigger fish load. You should be OK if the fish load is not too much. Without know how many/how big are the fish, not much information we can go on.

In the mean time, 40% weekly WC sounds very good for most tank set ups. I would do 30% twice a week till the water get clear.

More detailed information is always helpful.
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125 g discus tank 13 discus, 5 Sterbai cory, 3 clown loaches, 1 Albino BN pH 6.3 50% WC x2/wk
2 g nano tank 3 Danio, pH 7.6 80% WC/ 2 days

[Illusia]

I have:

1x Dwarf gourami
3x blue rainbow fish
1x RTBS
1x auratus cichlid
1x ram
4x glass fish
1x blue cray fish
2x yoyo loaches

The rainbow fish are all 7cm in length (they are the biggest) and the smallest is my ram he is only 3-4cm. The rest lie in between but on the smaller side.

The rainbow fish are the biggest but their bioload is small coz they have small stomachs. I feed my fish twice a day on flakes and granuals. I do vaccume the gravel vigorously every week when I do my water change. The tank has been set up for a couple of months now and all my fish are healthy and happy. So do u think its a filter problem?
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200L Community

[fishlover888]

Two months is kind of new for the tank of that many fish. Maybe your filter is trying to play catch up with your fish load. Especially if you added most of the fish in a short period. If the condition is not improving in another week or so, or, if you keep having the water cloud issues, I would say adding some filer capacity may help you. In the mean time, keep up the water changes since that's the only way you can take out the nasty things while the filter is not fully functional.

I would be worried about the cray fish. It may decide to take out some of the smaller fish in the tank for you when it gets big enough.
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125 g discus tank 13 discus, 5 Sterbai cory, 3 clown loaches, 1 Albino BN pH 6.3 50% WC x2/wk
2 g nano tank 3 Danio, pH 7.6 80% WC/ 2 days

[Illusia]

OK I'll keep up those water changes and I'm also going to look into building a canister filter as the ones in the shop are way to expensive for me. As for the cray fish he is at least 8-9cm and has only one pincer (I rescued him from an lfs tank where he was housed with some very hungry puffer fish) the fish seem way to fast for him but I will definitly keep an eye out. Thanks for all the advice you have been a great help
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200L Community

[fishlover888]

Instead of building a cannister by yourself, you may want to try e-Bay. They have some Fluval filters relatively cheap and should be able to meet your need. A 405 is less than $100, which will be very good for your tank size.
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125 g discus tank 13 discus, 5 Sterbai cory, 3 clown loaches, 1 Albino BN pH 6.3 50% WC x2/wk
2 g nano tank 3 Danio, pH 7.6 80% WC/ 2 days